Isn’t it remarkable that the same American warship which spirited away a Libyan sought on terrorist charges after he was kidnapped from his home in Tripoli then resulted to be the ship that saved 129 asylum seekers who were in danger of following so many others to a watery grave?

There must be some sort of logic around, if only we can find the link.

The USS San Antonio to which Abu Anas al-Libi was taken for interrogation after his kidnap in Tripoli on 5 October, has since been involved in the rescue of 129 migrants off the coast of Malta.

The USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport dock, steamed sixty miles to the migrants is a stricken rubber dinghy  after it was spotted in trouble in heavy seas south of Malta by one of the island’s patrol craft. 

The passengers, mostly from Somalia, are believed to have left Libya at Zuara.  They were taken aboard the American vessel and fed and cared during the trip to just outside Maltese waters when they were transferred to a Maltese patrol boat, and put ashore.

It is remarkable how in this age of satellite reconnaissance, soon of drones, radar and whatnot, things go on in this stretch of water that is almost minuscule by world standards that we never get to know about.

The presence of military vessels, American especially but of other nations as well, is generally known but little is known of their activities and whereabouts. The presence of American warships came in very handy during the Libya crisis but, as the 5 October episode shows, they are still somewhere in the vicinity and can be called in for what the US claims are its security concerns.

The 129 asylum seekers can count themselves lucky that the American warship was in the vicinity for things were looking bad for them, both because of their flimsy craft and also because of the rough seas.

An article this paper carried on Thursday spoke about a possible use of ‘hybrid drones’ to reinforce the Frontex border agency monitor and possibly provide help to asylum seekers in flimsy craft.

Drones are very much the talk of the town nowadays, as witness a series of articles on the Financial Times last week. From being almost exclusively used for military purposes as they have been used in Afghanistan, they can equally and possibly more profitably used for peacetime uses. There are, of course, privacy concerns and in fact many US states have banned the flying of drones.

But in the context of the difficulties encountered in monitoring the sea between Libya and Sicily and of saving lives at sea, the use of drones would go quite a long way to addressing these issues. One type of drones, in fact, is capable of flying up to 12.5 hours without refueling. They do not come cheap, but then they are not overly expensive.

The US would probably say there is not much difference between defending peace by arresting a top terrorist and defending peace by saving asylum seekers’ lives. Others may perhaps differ.

But still, in this case, a warship, one full of sailors and weapons, used to transport all kinds of military equipment, found a new and completely acceptable use of saving lives.